Irish hopes high for Lucerne

ROWING: Another big weekend for Irish rowing: the World Cup regatta in Lucerne has an Irish team with debutants as well as three crews who would expect to medal, and the junior and novice National Championships at the National Rowing Centre in Cork have been augmented by the addition of the Home International trials.

Off the water, the chief executive of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union, Frank Tierney, yesterday confirmed that the Sports Council's grant of €240,020 did take into account funding for a new full-time team manager. Tierney also pointed out that while 75 per cent of the funding has been received, the rest is dependent on a "performance audit". And the emphasis of the high performance grants is firmly on Olympic events.

Not for the first time then, Sinéad Jennings moves centre stage: the reigning World Champion lightweight single sculler and crewmate Heather Boyle are competing in the lightweight double sculls, which is an Olympic event.

Ireland's other two World Champion crews, the lightweight pair of Tony O'Connor and Gearóid Towey and lightweight single sculler Sam Lynch also compete. The lightweight men's pair of Dave Mannion and Herbert Griffin are getting their first outing and the lightweight single scullers Timmy Harnedy and Alison Downey are also part of the under-23 group, which will remain on the continent and take part in the world under-23 championships in Genoa next weekend.

They are set to be joined by the new men's under-23 heavyweight four. The crew's formation has led to a number of queries as to the formation criteria, but rowing union's high performance director Mick O'Callaghan last week said athletes who had put themselves forward for selection had been continuously assessed since Christmas, and athletes had to be part of the system and support the system to be part of international crews.

Back at the National Rowing Centre, the addition of the trials for the Home Internationals to the junior and novice National Championships has created a unique event. Entries for the trials have been particularly strong in men's and women's pairs (12 and 11 respectively) and in the men's lightweight single sculls, with 10.

Garda and NUIG, who produced a good race at Henley Royal Regatta, are entered in the men's coxed fours, but this may not be a two-horse race. Both Queen's and University of Limerick both have two entries in the event, which has nine contenders in total.